Connie Tipton
BOCA RATON, Fla. — International Dairy Foods Association President and CEO Connie Tipton said here this week that the Food and Drug Administration should change some of its standards of definition to allow the dairy industry to develop new products as it tries to satisfy the desires of consumers.

“We need to convince the Food and Drug Administration to allow other better-for-you dairy product innovations to fit within various dairy standards of identity,” Tipton said at the IDFA annual Dairy Forum here on Monday.

“For example, we believe there should be a broader spectrum for innovations using new processing techniques and dairy ingredients. That would allow dairy companies to come up with more creative products that meet consumers’ increasing demands for things like higher protein and less sugar, but can still be called milk.”

Noting that First Lady Michelle Obama has put a major focus on combatting childhood obesity and healthier eating, Tipton also said the White House and FDA should “take another look at how standards are interpreted, in hopes of getting the greater flexibility it takes to offer milks to meet varying needs.”

Tipton cited a joint venture between Coca-Cola and Select Milk Producers, a co-op, to produce “Fairlife,” a product that has been formulated to enhance protein and reduce lactose.

The dairy industry faces challenges in a changing domestic market, she said.

“When we think of traditional dairy — wholesome, good-for-you, most perfect food, does-a-body-good, reliable, affordable, and tasty — all come to mind,” Tipton said.

“But today’s consumers hunger and thirst for more than foods and beverages and the qualities I just described. They crave information. Our dairy products may be physically opaque, but consumers want transparency about what’s in them and how they are made. And increasingly, they want specifics . . . lots of specifics . . . before they reach out for that yogurt, smoothie, or package of cheese and put it in their shopping carts.”

Tipton said consumers have “a growing inventory of questions they want answered.”

“For example, were the cows cared for humanely? Was it a large farm or small farm? What were the cows fed? Was the farm environmentally responsible? How far was the milk transported from the farm to processing? And how long from farm to store? Did the processing facility employ sustainable practices for precious resources like energy and water? Is the packaging recyclable? All of these are potential factors that can make or break a consumer’s purchase.”

“Whether it’s the environment, food security, rising income inequality, or personal and community well-being, the considerations that go into decisions about what to eat are vastly different than what most of us grew up thinking,” Tipton said.

Millennials — people born between 1977 and 1994 — are expected to outnumber baby boomers by 10 million in 2020 and have different buying habits, she noted.

Millenials spend only $27 per year on ice cream compared to the Greatest Generation’s $42, the Boomers’ $40 and the GenXers $38, she said, “and they want deals, prefer fresh food, shop less frequently, buy more at a time,” she said.

But Tipton also noted that, while advertising agencies have focused on the buyers between 18 and 49, there is now a recognition that people over 50 may have been neglected.

A group called Enrich Life over 50 notes that are 106 million people in the United States who are 50 or older — one third of the population — and they control 70 percent of the accumulated private wealth and account for 50 percent of annual consumer spending,

For dairy, we see this sea of gray as a great opportunity,” Tipton said.